Virgin Money lifts NIM guidance, 3i Infrastructure on track to pay target FY dividend
London pre-open
The FTSE 100 was being called to open 47.5 points higher ahead of the bell on Tuesday after the index closed out the previous session 0.02% softer at 7,464.37.
Stocks to watch
Lender Virgin Money lifted guidance for its net interest margin on Tuesday as the UK economy recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation pushed up the cost of loans.
The bank guided for a NIM of around 175 basis points for 2022, with growth in higher-yielding lending offset by mortgage competition and normalisation of the savings market over the remainder of the year
3i Infrastructure said on Tuesday that income in the third quarter was as expected, putting it on track to pay its target annual dividend.
Income and non-income cash was £26.0m in the three months to the end of December compared with £24.0m a year earlier, while the firm's 2022 dividend was on track to rise 6.6% to 10.45p a share, said the FTSE 250-listed company.
Newspaper round-up
Treasury officials have quietly introduced a new "super tax" to deter energy company owners from cashing out lucrative contracts for gas bought in advance before leaving their supply business to go under. The government quickly pushed through the new laws late last week to counter industry concerns that Stephen Fitzpatrick, the founder of Ovo Energy, could use his almost two-thirds stake in the company to liquidate its long-term gas contracts and exit the supply market with a hefty profit. – Guardian
Tesco is closing its Jack's discount chain, created to win back shoppers from Aldi and Lidl, less than four years after it was launched. Britain's biggest grocer opened the first Jack's stores – named after the supermarket's founder, Jack Cohen – in September 2018, in Chatteris in Cambridgeshire and Immingham in Lincolnshire, with a promise to be "the cheapest in town". – Guardian
Sony is to buy Bungie, a leading American video games developer, for $3.6bn amid the flurry of dealmaking across the sector. The Japanese conglomerate — one of the global gaming industry's dominant players — has agreed to acquire the creator of the Halo and Destiny franchises in an attempt to expand the reach of its PlayStation console. – The Times
The founder of Games Workshop is launching a special purpose acquisition vehicle in London as he looks to buy a company in the video games or "metaverse" industries. Sir Ian Livingstone, who was also the chairman of the games developer Sumo Group before it was sold to Tencent for £1.0bn last month, is asking investors to back him with £115.0m. Through his Hiro Metaverse Acquisitions I vehicle, he wants to find and buy a video games studio, an esports platform, a digital sports business, a health app or virtual reality company. – The Times
Downing Street has launched an audacious bid to lure the $45.0bn (£34.0bn) payments behemoth Klarna to the London Stock Exchange amid fears that high-growth companies are snubbing the City for New York. Ministers courted the Swedish business at a Number 10 meeting in which they encouraged some of Europe's largest tech companies to float in the City by touting the opportunities for post-Brexit reform. - Telegraph
US close
Wall Street stocks recorded solid gains on Monday but the S&P 500 failed to avoid delivering its worst monthly performance since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.17% at 35,131.86, while the S&P 500 was 1.89% stronger at 4,515.55 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 3.41% firmer at 14,239.88.